STUDY GUIDE Study Guide prepared by Susan Speidel, Director of Education, and Michael T. Mooney, Manager of Access and Outreach.
Funding for this program has been made possible through the generosity of The Provident Bank Foundation, Fleet Bank, NA, Fred J. Brotherton Charitable Foundation, Schering-Plough Corporation Foundation, SI Bank & Trust Foundation, C.R. Bard Foundation, Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, PSE&G, Nordstrom, Target Stores, FirstEnergy Foundation. Additional Funding for Paper Mill’s Education Programs is provided by New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PNC Bank Foundation, Shirley Aidekman-Kaye, Kaela O’Connor, and the Harold Wetterberg Foundation.
THE ORIGINS OF THE STORY
The story of CINDERELLA can be traced back centuries and individual elements of the story can be found in almost every world culture. More than 1,500 variations on the story estimated worldwide, each adding something unique. The earliest version of the story comes from China somewhere around 850 AD. In that tale, a young princess is captured and taken to live as a servant in another province. Eventually she is rescued and her true identity is revealed because her foot is small enough (having been bound in traditional Chinese fashion) to fit into the Princess’ shoe. The first written version of the story comes from a 1501 German sermon and it has more in common with Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET than with the modern-day CINDERELLA. In this tale, the daughter of a merchant falls in love with the son of a rival merchant. Her mother, thinking to stop the marriage of the two young lovers, tells the daughter that she must empty a bushel of barley, one grain at a time and using only her tongue, before she can wed. The daughter completes the task, with the help of ants, and the marriage takes place despite the parent’s objections. The story appeared next in a collection of Italian folk tales published in five volumes by Giambattista Basile between 1624 -1636. In this version of the tale, a young orphan girl sleeps among the ashes, and earns the name “The Cat Cinderella” for curling up like a cat at the fire. Our modern-day story owes a great deal to the French version of the tale
2005-2006 SEASON
which was called CINDERELLA AND THE GLASS. It was written by Charles Perrault (1628-1703) and published in 1697. This version introduced the characters of the step-mother and step-sisters, and also introduced the plot device of the royal ball. There were two different versions of the story, called Aschputtle, created by The Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 and 1856. These stories introduced the magical fairy godmother. The story that we know today is a combination of all of these versions.
RICHARD RODGERS and OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Many critics refer to Rodgers and Hammerstein as the most important creators of musical comedy in the 1940’s and credit their first work OKLAHOMA! with setting new standards for the musical theatre. Prior to their association, Rodgers and Hammerstein had other collaborators, other successes and other failures. PAL JOEY (1940) marked the peak of a twenty-year collaboration for Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart (seen at right). A startling departure in tone from previous Rodgers and Hart shows, PAL JOEY marked the first time that the “hero” of a musical was a less than “heroic” figure. Although it failed to change the course of musical theatre history, it provided a link with the next stage of the musical’s development. This phase would begin with OKLAHOMA! and would sweep aside the last remaining shreds of convention and open up new vistas of artistic and musical expression. OKLAHOMA! (1943) marked the first effort by Rodgers without Hart in more than 20 years and a return to a position of success for Hammerstein, whose track record over the previous ten years had been a string of failed shows. The idea of the sophisticated Rodgers teaming up with Oscar Hammerstein, a lyricist firmly rooted in the traditions of old-fashioned musical comedy, seemed absurd. However, the Theatre Guild was set to produce a new musical version of the play GREEN GROW THE LILACS written by Lynn Riggs and approached the team of Rodgers and Hart to write the score. By this time, Hart’s professional and personal behavior had seriously deteriorated. Undeniably the most brilliant lyric writer of his generation, Hart was also unstable, unhappy, erratic, and a fitful worker who tried to solve his problems by drinking. Rodgers often found himself being Hart’s guardian and nursemaid as well as collaborator. He would frequently hunt for Hart in local bars and take him home to sober up before they could begin working. In addition, Hart had no interest in writing for the sentimental project that the Guild proposed. After much soul-searching, Rodgers told Hart he wanted to do the show with Hammerstein. Without ever looking him in the eyes, Hart told Rodgers he couldn’t have picked a better man. ‘I don’t know why you’ve put up with me all these years,’ he said, ‘The best thing for you is to forget about me.’ With that he got up and left...Rodgers simply did not know what to do. All he could think of was that a long and wonderful partnership had just walked out of the door. He got up to go and tell his music publisher, but before he got as far as the door, he was crying like a baby.
Almost from the beginning of his career, Oscar Hammerstein had been dedicated to the goal of bringing seriousness to the musical stage. He was born into a theatrical family, his father and uncle were producers, and in the late 1920’s, after a brief attempt at studying law at Columbia University, he collaborated on shows with operetta veterans Otto Harbach and Sigmund Romberg. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern on the landmark SHOW BOAT. Based on Edna Ferber’s enduring novel of life on the Mississippi, SHOW BOAT was the first major American musical with a serious plot. The show deals with inter-racial marriage, murder, gambling and an unhappy marriage and examines the black experience during the early part of this century from a realistic viewpoint rather than merely repeating the idealization of Negro life traditionally seen on stage. The action takes place during a thirty year time span and efforts were made to reflect the “sound” of colloquial dialogue and music in each era covered. A unification of efforts can be seen in SHOW BOAT with one composer writing the entire score and the weaving together of the script and the score throughout the show. It was conceived as a complete work with the script dictating the the score at all times. Kern’s music embodies a distinctly American spirit although it pays homage to its operetta roots with a European feel for sweeping melodies. The score also introduced recurring musical themes, also known as leitmotif, with melodies representing specific
characters and used to echo emotion, foreshadow plot, set mood and in general unify the script and the score. Hammerstein’s lyrics are poetic, yet realistic and completely relevant to the characters who sing them. When Rodgers and Hammerstein joined forces, Rodgers had to adjust stylistically to his new partner. Hammerstein’s style was simple, homespun and emotional without being sentimental. The two had been friends, and had written one song together for a college show, but their new alliance expanded their styles and allowed them to take musicals to the next level. Oscar and I hit it off from the day we started...For one thing, I needed a little calm in my life after twenty-three hectic years. When Oscar would say I’ll meet you at two-thirty, he was there at two-thirty. That never happened to me before. – Richard Rodgers
As a result of the new collaboration, Rodgers developed a sweeping style of composing and Hammerstein, in the dual role of lyricist and author ensured the smooth transitions from dialogue to song. OKLAHOMA! remains successful today because of its basic integrity and unity of drama and music. It was that unity and integrity that became the hallmarks of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s collaborations and that changed the face of the American musical theatre for all time. The main purpose of the songs in OKLAHOMA! is to reveal character. The apparent simplicity of the lyrics hides an often penetrating insight into the dramatic situation at hand. The opening scene of OKLAHOMA! replaced the traditional chorus line opening number with the simplicity of one character singing his heartfelt appreciation of the Oklahoma landscape. As in SHOW BOAT, the songs grew out of the script and were appropriate to character. What set OKLAHOMA! apart as a landmark musical, however, was the way it changed the role that dance played in the show. Agnes De Mille’s innovative choreography and musical staging added to the audience’s knowledge of the characters. Through the use of a dream sequence, dance advanced the story and delineated plot and character relationship. For years afterward, this formula was imitated and many musicals of the late 40’s and early 50’s included dream ballets. Few, however, duplicated the artistic success of OKLAHOMA! where dance added to the seamless web of music and word. For more than 20 years the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein dominated musical theatre. Hammerstein’s earnest and honest lyrics and Rodgers charming melodies set the standard for other composers from the first simple strains of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” in OKLAHOMA!, to the final triumphant chorus of “Climb Every Mountain” in their last collaboration, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1959). As a team, Rodgers’ melodic lyricism was well suited to Hammerstein’s heartfelt words and thematically, two overlying motifs dominate the nine musical works created by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The first is an examination of a distinctly American life experience. This can be seen in the locations chosen for Rodgers and Hammerstein shows and the characters who populate those locales; the cowboys and farmers of OKLAHOMA!, the New England fishermen of CAROUSEL (1945), the San Francisco Asian-Americans of FLOWER DRUM SONG (1958) and the World War II sailors of SOUTH PACIFIC (1959). The second theme is a sense of optimism and a distinctly American sense of confidence and it is embodied in one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most memorable characters, SOUTH PACIFIC’s Ensign Nellie Forbush. She refuses to let the war that surrounds her daunt her spirits and sings,
I hear the human race Is falling on its face And hasn’t very far to go, But every whippoorwill Is selling me a bill And telling me it just ain’t so. I could say life is just a bowl of Jello And appear more intelligent and smart But I’m stuck (like a dope) With a thing called hope, And I can’t get it out of my heart...
Not this heart! — “Cockeyed Optimist”
The same theme of optimism and confidence is echoed in the triumph of family love over impending political danger in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and in the overwhelming belief that love has the power to transcend even death, in the powerful climactic scene of CAROUSEL. This optimism and strength of character is again echoed in the words of the song “I Whistle A Happy Tune” in the opening scene of THE KING AND I, as the tutor Mrs. Anna arrives with her son Louis in a strange land, facing many unknowns. They sing, While shivering in my shoes, I strike a careless pose And whistle a happy tune And no one ever knows I’m afraid. The result of this deception Is very strange to tell. For when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well. I whistle a happy tune And every single time, The happiness in the tune, Convinces me that I’m not afraid.—“I Whistle A Happy Tune”
The shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein are remarkable because of the honest heartfelt emotion. All but two Rodgers and Hammerstein projects were based on existing plays or books, but it is interesting to note that they were so successful and so firmly established in the mind of the public as musicals that the original sources of the material are all but forgotten. Following Hammerstein’s death in 1960, Rodgers was alone professionally for the first time in 40 years. He wrote both the music and lyrics for NO STRINGS, a show that depicted an inter-racial relationship for the first time in a Broadway musical and then went on to write DO I HEAR A WALTZ and TWO BY TWO with Martin Charnin. Upon his death in 1979 the marquis lights on Broadway’s theatres were turned off for an hour in his honor.
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA
The Rodgers and Hammerstein version of CINDERELLA premiered live on CBS-TV on March 31, 1957 — 14 years to the day that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, OKLAHOMA!, opened on Broadway. CBS’s presentation of CINDERELLA was prompted by the astounding success rival NBC had enjoyed previously with a television production of PETER PAN starring Mary Martin. Unlike PETER PAN, which was a television version of a Broadway production, it was determined by CBS that their musical would be created specifically for the medium. In choosing their fairy tale, inspired casting may have helped in the decision: at the time, a radiant Julie Andrews was charming Broadway in an Edwardian Cinderella musical called MY FAIR LADY, and when CBS asked her to play Cinderella for them, she readily agreed. With ideal casting like that, the network had very little trouble getting Rodgers and Hammerstein involved. “What sold us immediately was the chance to work with Julie,” recalled Rodgers in his autobiography. “It was right from the start.” Rodgers and Hammerstein prepared their version of CINDERELLA in a scant eight month period. Produced at a costly $375,000, this was a sumptuous CINDERELLA that spared no expense. “Being ignorant of the medium,” wrote Hammerstein of his first experience in television, “I wrote this show on the assumption we could do anything, and nothing has been refused me yet.” CINDERELLA went through an unusually long (for television) rehearsal period, followed by two complete run-throughs (dubbed “the New Haven and Boston tryouts” by the authors). On March 18, the cast went into Columbia Records studios where, they recorded the CINDERELLA score; the album was released in conjunction with the broadcast less than two weeks later. On
Sunday night March 24, Rodgers and Hammerstein appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, playing selections from CINDERELLA and urging viewers to watch “the same channel, same time, same place” one week hence. And watch they did. CINDERELLA’s broadcast, live on CBS-TV on Sunday night March 31, 1957 from 8 to 9:30PM, was viewed by 107,000,000 people — the largest television audience to date. Rodgers mused that for CINDERELLA to reach as large an audience on Broadway it would have to play to full houses for 110 years! CINDERELLA made an easy transition to the stage, and began appearing in London and in theatres around the United States. With its stage success on track, CBS wanted to bring CINDERELLA back to television. The 1957 premiere had been phenomenally successful, but in the days before videotape it was doomed to one performance only. In 1965 CBS re-staged CINDERELLA, with Richard Rodgers serving as Executive Producer. The 1965 CINDERELLA featured a young performer named Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella. Taped for broadcast, this CINDERELLA premiered on February 22, 1965, and was shown on CBS eight more times through February of 1974. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA endures. The original 1957 version survives in a relatively crude but historically fascinating kinescope in the archives of the Museum of Television in New York City; the 1965 remake can be seen frequently on The Disney Channel and CBS Fox/Playhouse home video. Compact disc and audio cassette recordings of both performances are available on Sony Broadway. Stage productions of CINDERELLA continue to thrive as well, including an acclaimed version presented by the New York City Opera in 1993, and again in 1995. More than 250 productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA are presented in the United States every year. Confirming this work’s classic appeal, as well as the timelessness of its tale, yet a third television remake of CINDERELLA was prepared for a broadcast premiere on November 2, 1997. Its dazzling all-star cast included Whitney Houston as The Fairy Godmother, as well as singing and TV sensation Brandy in the title role. A co-production of Walt Disney TeleFilms, Storyline Entertainment and Houston Productions, this CINDERELLA — like the two TV versions preceding it — made television history: as the #1 show of the week, with over 60,000,000 viewers, it became the highest-rated TV musical in a generation, a hit with critics and audiences alike. An encore broadcast on Valentine’s Night 1998 drew another 15,000,000 viewers and the Disney Home Video version, also released that year, became the best-selling video of a TV movie ever released. In the Fall of 2000 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA stepped down from the screen and onto the stage once again in an enchanting revival on U.S. National Tour, starring Eartha Kitt as The Fairy Godmother, Deborah Gibson as Cinderella and — repeating his TV role — Paolo Montalban as The Prince. He reprises this role again in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of the show. Traveling from TV screens to opera houses to stages across America, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA has emerged from her own little corner to live happily ever after.
